Bound by Glass

11| The Sleeping Curse

I grabbed a pack with water and some dried fruit before heading over to the south camp border.

Strangely, it was deserted. Gunshots and the electric whizzes of electro-guns sounded behind me, but none were coming closer—for now.

Taking a deep breath, I held on to the small sachet in my pocket, squeezing it in my fist.

A swift end.

The small red leaves looked harmless, but I recognised them now. They were the bottom leaves of a rare plant which had appeared on the buried ashes of Outsiders several years ago.

The top leaves of the plant had a calming virtue when used in a tea, but the ones on the bottom half of the plant were deadly. In a matter of seconds it could be over. Now that the leaves were dry it might take a bit longer, but the effect was all the same.

Your heart would slow down, until it was nearly still, and then it would freeze the blood in your veins. It was like you fell asleep—but to never wake up.

No wonder they called it the Sleeping Curse.

I heard it was a name from a very old story, told to children centuries ago. It sounded like a boring story, if it was about killing people with some dried leaves. What's to tell about that?

I'd slap myself if it was about some revenge thing, if it was about a boy and a girl, and the boy hurt the girl, and she wanted revenge! Oh, my, gods. What a disaster. How immensely original.

I'd choose Rafa's story any day.

Giving camp one last glance, I turned around and set out in a jog. The bailas trees glided beside me as my feet dug into the soft forest floor. The familiar weight of my pack bounced between my shoulder blades.

I slowed down to orientate myself. If I was right, behind this hill should be...

Bingo.

The train tracks.

If I followed them, I might be able to slip into the tunnels that led into the Globes. The hard part would be over. From there... well, that was open for suggestions. I had to be crazy—I was definitely going to die if I tried this. But still, it seemed like there no other thing I could do, other than this. Maybe this had been my purpose after all, as strange as it sounded.

I knew where to walk without leaving tracks, because of the time I had spent with the hunters. I knew how to hide in trees, from the time I had spent with patrol. I knew where and when to slip into the trains, from the times when I had hidden in the trees and watched them unnoticed—the trees from which the lumbers had said had the best hiding spots. I knew switchers weren't useless—I might be the best candidate for this job. Still—it scared the hell out of me.

I never had been inside any of the Globes; in fact, I only knew how they looked on the outside. They were massive glass spheres, with veins of green and blue lacing through the glass like a geometrical web. By capturing the weak sunlight and preserving it in the form of electricity, I think it protected the Globes from overheating or freezing.

That's how the Globes keep running, without having to exploit the grounds for the scarce coal or oil. There were nearly no fossil fuels left, so the Globes were forced to switch to solar energy. Still, the Government forbade the use of non-renewable energy to prevent further destruction of the world.

What they didn't know is that it wasn't to them to decide. Nature found her way. Yes, half of the Earth had been destroyed in the War of Kin, taking two thirds of the population with it, but we had bounced back.